What I learned from the Port game

[Winmar7]

Because you can't write an article these days unless it's about something you learned...

Our first goal was one of the plays of the year!
The umps still have no feel for the game (especially no. 21 - Geary deliberate out of bounds?!)
Westoff's beard is still ridiculous, someone buy that man a razor blade an mirror
Lonie tried hard, but the jury is out...
Bruce can mark the ball - if the delivery is good
Paddy McCartin is the new Lenny, as far as supporter love (and goodwill) goes
Docklands is much better with the roof open
Anyone who paid $20 admission deserves a refund
Krakouer needs lesson on going in for the hard ball
The new jumper looks ok, especially no.2
Nobody knows (or cares) what JLT do & NAB cup is easier to say

I'm not KB, but that's my take

[Life Long Saint]

The umps still have no feel for the game (especially no. 21 - Geary deliberate out of bounds?!)

If this is the standard the umps are going to set then the game has gone to the dogs.
That deliberate OOB decision was the worst I've seen since the Montagna one in Brisbane a number of years ago.

[lefty]

1. Delivery into forward line was poor.
2. Carlisle needs to actually hold tackles and marks (but okfor first game back) .
3. Lonie will be fine, you're expecting way to much.
4. Ryders beard is 100 times worse than Westoff.
5. Rapid movement / game in the first half.

[skeptic]

1. Shane Savage is a serious worry in my opinion.
He's in the team to be a play maker and he seems to lack composure and smarts... very concerning when you consider that we know he's weaker than others in the backline at the defensive aspect of his game.

He's my official under the microscope player for 2017

[White Winmar]

Plus one, Skeptic. He faces some strong competition for his spot.

[WellardSaint]

1. Shane Savage is a serious worry in my opinion.
He's in the team to be a play maker and he seems to lack composure and smarts... very concerning when you consider that we know he's weaker than others in the backline at the defensive aspect of his game.

He's my official under the microscope player for 2017

There have been times when Gears used to quite often kick poorly out of defence, and caused the ball to come back with interest, or he would hold the ball for 2 seconds too long, and get caught;
those habit seems to have dissipated last year.
His many supporters say it was not usually his fault, as team-mates had not run to position correctly, and not supporting him, thus putting undue pressure on him;
and an improved understanding and/or different gameplan/tactics from the team in 2016 are the reasons for the purple patch.

I don't believe (and I could be wrong) that Savage can be excused in a similar way.
Just in my own memory, his fumbles and turnovers appear to be an ongoing issue, and have not improved at all.
Gears seems to perform helicopter kicks, but Shane can kick much better and further, therefore increasing the number of potential targets.
Shane doesn't appear to think quickly and is easily pressured. A defender needs to be composed under pressure or he is a liability, no matter how nicely he kicks the Sherrin.

[dragit]

Was Savage no good last night?

14 kicks
4 HB
94 % eff
9 marks
4 i50

[White Winmar]

Was Savage no good last night?

14 kicks
4 HB
94 % eff
9 marks
4 i50

No doubt, they're good stats, dragit. A bit the same as Gears was accused of being. The gap between best and worst is very wide. If he's on, he's very important. It'll be interesting to see what role they settle him into. I don't think he's a lock for round 1 by any means.

[skeptic]

1. Shane Savage is a serious worry in my opinion.
He's in the team to be a play maker and he seems to lack composure and smarts... very concerning when you consider that we know he's weaker than others in the backline at the defensive aspect of his game.

He's my official under the microscope player for 2017

There have been times when Gears used to quite often kick poorly out of defence, and caused the ball to come back with interest, or he would hold the ball for 2 seconds too long, and get caught;
those habit seems to have dissipated last year.
His many supporters say it was not usually his fault, as team-mates had not run to position correctly, and not supporting him, thus putting undue pressure on him;
and an improved understanding and/or different gameplan/tactics from the team in 2016 are the reasons for the purple patch.

I don't believe (and I could be wrong) that Savage can be excused in a similar way.
Just in my own memory, his fumbles and turnovers appear to be an ongoing issue, and have not improved at all.
Gears seems to perform helicopter kicks, but Shane can kick much better and further, therefore increasing the number of potential targets.
Shane doesn't appear to think quickly and is easily pressured. A defender needs to be composed under pressure or he is a liability, no matter how nicely he kicks the Sherrin.

To add to this, Geary is not in the team as a playmaker.
Whilst Geary's disposal comes into the spot light at times, his defenders often point out that regardless of the odd clanger, he almost always beat his man.

Add to that that in the second half of the season, at least to some degree, instances of bad turnovers from Geary reduced substantially.

I think a good prototype model player for Savage is Aussie Jones or perhaps a Leon Davis (when he was a half back)... with those players, you were never expecting that their opponents wouldn't on occasion exploit their lack of accountability. Rather, you back them into to do more damage to them then their opponents did to your own team.

My real worry here is that Savage is simply not damaging enough and it's costing us run.

HBF to me is an area of real concern. You're looking for players that are either really good defenders or provide heaps of run... I feel like we have too many types that don't excel at either.
Savage
Webster
Gilbert

Not loving these guys.

Lonie tried last night and by all accounts wasn't great.

Roberton seems to have stepped up.
Newnes improving all the time
Lot of buzz about Dmac at the moment.

Am very keen to start getting more of a look at guys like White, Rice, Sinclair (on a HBF), and Ben Long too

[WellardSaint]

Adam Kingsley's member exclusive email
Ahhh he is hard-wired to speak a dialect of English- Richospeak.
Pleasing, positive, strong, yadayadayada
Good to see the coaches singing from the same hymn-book.

[To the top]

A few observations, recognizing it was the first practice match of the season against an opponent.

A class above - Jack Steven

Will be a class above - Carlisle

Cemented his spot just in case there was ever any doubt - Dunstan

McCartin, Bruce and Membrey took some marks early but post the early going disposal was not to their advantage and PA were too easily able to mark in defence. Generally disposal into the F50 was errant and straight to PA players whilst field disposal fell away to poor.

Gresham had an impact in the mid-field against an increasing domination by PA, with only Dunstan and Gresham impacting after Steven left the contest.

The rucks generally competed but, as the match wore on, not to the advantage of our support.

Dempster took a good mark, setting himself but only having a right foot told against him.

Lonie, Savage and McKenzie are under immediate pressure.

Wright is ultra quick - and fierce at it.

There were a few who were honest.

Geary had a nice one-two in the first quarter and after that touched the ball in the last. To let your opponent come off the Inter-change, look at him whilst on your Pat Malone 100 metres from anyone and then see the PA player run to a forward pocket, mark with no opponent and goal was perplexing. Needs to do what he is reputed to do. Captain or not.

Gilbert was at full back on a shorter opponent, got forward for a shot on goal and crashed some packs to spoil. A good floating defensive mark aka Dempster's effort.

Roberton performed well.

No 9 was seen in the first half because he was wearing No 9 (ie looking for him to make an impact). Similarly No 25 who did not excel on a forward flank.

Brown looked smaller than his stats (perhaps because of Carlisle) and was honest.

Roo had a run around.

Billings best is there abouts but he appeared to tire.

Armo - ditto Roo

Was there a change of focus after the first quarter to see how we respond defensively when there is a run on against us?

These are practice matches after all.

A while since we have beaten PA - anywhere!

One of the sides we have to beat in the regular season.

[To the top]

Just on Carlisle - a mistake not punching when the player is in front of you but he backed himself to out mark, but the opponent had hands on it first.

But what did impress me was his "nouse" and ability to spread and hem a smaller, quicker player into the boundary line a couple of times.

He knows what he is about.

[WellardSaint]

Just on Carlisle - a mistake not punching when the player is in front of you but he backed himself to out mark, but the opponent had hands on it first.

But what did impress me was his "nouse" and ability to spread and hem a smaller, quicker player into the boundary line a couple of times.

He knows what he is about.

disagree. You have to go for your marks. He has damn good hands, and has to trust his own judgement.
First practice game, no big deal.
Agree on pushing a player to the line, it's great how he could do that, even after a year out and with some sort of hip problem; hope this shows he's physically tip-top

[To the top]

And on Savage, 9 marks when the ball was chipped to him. PA put front on pressure on him as a recognized "rebounder" hence the reviews of his performance.

You have to be careful about statistics in this nonsense statistic age fueled by the "fantasy" crap.

"Fantasy" does not win footy games.

[whiskers3614]

Does Savage suffer from "Fiora syndrome"?

[BigMart]

McCartin - this will be shooting Bambi

Slow and runs out of puff ... three occasions his opponent ran straight past him. Could not get separation after q time

The supposed body transformation hasn't really occurred.. some are just hopeful. He is still a lump, he's heavy set with a lot of puppy fat still.

Not condemning him, he has obvious ability, will make inroads and end up a player imo
But this leaner and fitter Paddy was not on show last night.

His body compared to Bruce, Nick, Membrey and most AFL players is completely different. Very little definition, very little in the way of second efforts as yet.

[Impatient Sainter]

1. We supporters have over rated our list - we still have a very slow and poor midfield.
2. Too many unskilled players in defence.
3. Still cant deliver to our forwards.
4. Paddy McCartin has never heard of forward pressure let alone applying it.
5. We are still a long way off being a highly skilled and sucessful team.

[BigMart]

Harsh but probably fair

We are very 'North Melbourne' of recent times

A very solid team/list with a lot of good players. We bat deep with goodish players...we are a blue collar team

[Toy Saint]

McCartin - this will be shooting Bambi

Slow and runs out of puff ... three occasions his opponent ran straight past him. Could not get separation after q time

The supposed body transformation hasn't really occurred.. some are just hopeful. He is still a lump, he's heavy set with a lot of puppy fat still.

Not condemning him, he has obvious ability, will make inroads and end up a player imo
But this leaner and fitter Paddy was not on show last night.

His body compared to Bruce, Nick, Membrey and most AFL players is completely different. Very little definition, very little in the way of second efforts as yet.

Agree with all of this, however I reckon we're not using him properly. Paddy is the closest St Kilda player I've seen in the mould of the great Tony Locket. He's a similar size and body shape, has strong hands, is a good kick at goal and a smart footballer.

Granted it was a different era, but Plugger lived in the goal square. Paddy, on the other hand spends a significant portion of time up on the wing or back flank. I just reckon if we kept him forward, one out against an opposition defender, he would be way more potent. As an added benefit he'd straighten up our forward entries.

If I close my eyes I can still see Plugger on the lead, and if I squint a little I can see Paddy in the same role. Perhaps I'm dreaming.

[saintsRrising]

McCartin - this will be shooting Bambi

Slow and runs out of puff ... three occasions his opponent ran straight past him. Could not get separation after q time

The supposed body transformation hasn't really occurred.. some are just hopeful. He is still a lump, he's heavy set with a lot of puppy fat still.

.

No one said that his "body transformation" was complete. However he is in better shape than he was when he joined us.

[magnifisaint]

McCartin - this will be shooting Bambi

Slow and runs out of puff ... three occasions his opponent ran straight past him. Could not get separation after q time

The supposed body transformation hasn't really occurred.. some are just hopeful. He is still a lump, he's heavy set with a lot of puppy fat still.

Not condemning him, he has obvious ability, will make inroads and end up a player imo
But this leaner and fitter Paddy was not on show last night.

His body compared to Bruce, Nick, Membrey and most AFL players is completely different. Very little definition, very little in the way of second efforts as yet.

Agree with all of this, however I reckon we're not using him properly. Paddy is the closest St Kilda player I've seen in the mould of the great Tony Locket. He's a similar size and body shape, has strong hands, is a good kick at goal and a smart footballer.

Granted it was a different era, but Plugger lived in the goal square. Paddy, on the other hand spends a significant portion of time up on the wing or back flank. I just reckon if we kept him forward, one out against an opposition defender, he would be way more potent. As an added benefit he'd straighten up our forward entries.

If I close my eyes I can still see Plugger on the lead, and if I squint a little I can see Paddy in the same role. Perhaps I'm dreaming.

You're right. He's a full forward so he shouldn't be running up to the wings taking marks. He should be a deep target.

[saint6709]

1. Shane Savage is a serious worry in my opinion.
He's in the team to be a play maker and he seems to lack composure and smarts... very concerning when you consider that we know he's weaker than others in the backline at the defensive aspect of his game.

He's my official under the microscope player for 2017

There have been times when Gears used to quite often kick poorly out of defence, and caused the ball to come back with interest, or he would hold the ball for 2 seconds too long, and get caught;
those habit seems to have dissipated last year.
His many supporters say it was not usually his fault, as team-mates had not run to position correctly, and not supporting him, thus putting undue pressure on him;
and an improved understanding and/or different gameplan/tactics from the team in 2016 are the reasons for the purple patch.

I don't believe (and I could be wrong) that Savage can be excused in a similar way.
Just in my own memory, his fumbles and turnovers appear to be an ongoing issue, and have not improved at all.
Gears seems to perform helicopter kicks, but Shane can kick much better and further, therefore increasing the number of potential targets.
Shane doesn't appear to think quickly and is easily pressured. A defender needs to be composed under pressure or he is a liability, no matter how nicely he kicks the Sherrin.

To add to this, Geary is not in the team as a playmaker.
Whilst Geary's disposal comes into the spot light at times, his defenders often point out that regardless of the odd clanger, he almost always beat his man.

Add to that that in the second half of the season, at least to some degree, instances of bad turnovers from Geary reduced substantially.

I think a good prototype model player for Savage is Aussie Jones or perhaps a Leon Davis (when he was a half back)... with those players, you were never expecting that their opponents wouldn't on occasion exploit their lack of accountability. Rather, you back them into to do more damage to them then their opponents did to your own team.

My real worry here is that Savage is simply not damaging enough and it's costing us run.

HBF to me is an area of real concern. You're looking for players that are either really good defenders or provide heaps of run... I feel like we have too many types that don't excel at either.
Savage
Webster
Gilbert

Not loving these guys.

Lonie tried last night and by all accounts wasn't great.

Roberton seems to have stepped up.
Newnes improving all the time
Lot of buzz about Dmac at the moment.

Am very keen to start getting more of a look at guys like White, Rice, Sinclair (on a HBF), and Ben Long too

Sorry to say after the Dmac buzz I thought he was very disappointing last night - first game of the season so that's ok but wasn't good IMO

Newnes kicking was terrible last night also - same thing first game back so no panic - would have had a great game if his kicking was top notch

Roberton I think has been underrated and was again very good

[Jacks Back]

Harsh but probably fair

We are very 'North Melbourne' of recent times

A very solid team/list with a lot of good players. We bat deep with goodish players...we are a blue collar team

We're actually wearing white collars this year.

[saintsRrising]

You're right. He's a full forward so he shouldn't be running up to the wings taking marks. He should be a deep target.

While yes he will be a key forward target, these days ALL players have to be able to run. Both for attack and defense.

[elizabethr]

Geary is a very ordinary player. ..always has been. ..always will be .